OCD& Anxiety Therapy
What is OCD?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) involves intrusive thoughts, fears, and feelings (obsessions) that causes you to perform repetitive behaviors (compulsions) to ease your angst. OCD disrupts your daily functioning, triggering emotional distress. If you try to block out, prevent, or stop your obsessive thoughts, it only leads to more anxiety and compulsive behaviors.
​
In other words, trying to block these upsetting thoughts and behaviors only cause them to return with a vengeance. OCD makes you feel like the only way to ease your stress and calm your nerves is to engage in ritualistic behaviors. Thus, it is a never-ending cycle that repeats over and over again.
For example, Betty is deathly afraid of contracting coronavirus and because health experts say a person can become “contaminated” by the virus (germs) by touching people and objects. Because Betty has been inundated with COVID-19 warnings, she can’t get the idea of catching COVID-19 and becoming ill or dying from it out of her mind, so she obsesses over it.
To ease her anxiety and stress, she excessively washes her hands until they crack and bleed. Performing this act reduces her stress…until she sees another warning on the television. Then, the cycle begins again.
People with OCD often “hide” it from others because of the stigma associated with mental illness. The truth is there is nothing to feel ashamed about – it is an illness like any other illness. The good news is there are effective treatments that can ease your symptoms and help you manage your condition.
Does this sound familiar?
-
Have you ever gotten stuck when facing obsessions, dealing with strong urges to do a compulsion and not knowing what to do or why you are having this compulsion?
-
Are you afraid that facing your obsessions will prove that something is wrong with you?
-
Is your career or personal life affected because of thought patterns?
-
Have you tried to start a hobby but you discontinue it because of intrusive thoughts?
-
Are you worried about being asked to do exposures that are against your values and inconsistent with who you are?
-
Are you concerned that your relationships are affected because of doubtful obsessions that are hard to let go?
-
Are you afraid that if you do exposure exercises something bad will happen to you or your loved ones?
-
Are you taking your obsessions as the absolute truth?
-
Are you living in your head?
-
Are you disconnected from what matters to you?
Dealing with OCD is not easy
The golden standard for OCD and any form of anxiety is called Exposure, and while exposure is an effective, research-based, and well-established approach, it’s also hard work because:
-
You have to learn about the different types of exposure exercises
-
You have to face all those obsessions that keep you stuck which can feel overwhelming
-
You will get stuck with compulsions
-
You may get confused not knowing if you are doing a compulsion or if that’s a regular behavior that is not attached to OCD
-
You will have to motivate yourself to approach exposure exercises
-
You may struggle distinguishing different forms of mental compulsions
-
You will worry about not doing exposures right
-
You may get frustrated when your brain latches onto other obsessions or compulsions
-
You will have to do all those exposure exercises (and a lot more) while juggling other areas of your life – job, school, relationships, health, religion.
-
You may feel hopeless and alone
Tackling OCD and anxiety is hard work. It takes a lot of patience, commitment, and willingness. But it’s also life-changing and it doesn’t need to be robotic, mechanic, or rigid.
Intensive Care. Faster Results.
We offer individually tailored, intensive outpatient treatment for children, adolescents, & adults. Our IOP program uses exposure and response prevention (ERP) as well as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Treatment modalities include individual therapy with a Licensed Board Certified Behavior Analyst and when working with children or adolescents, we also provide parent support.
​
We use multiple assessment modalities, including observations, questionnaires, and structured interviews. Our assessment process takes 1-3 sessions, depending on the nature of the issues being addressed.
Instead of spending hours in your head holding with white knuckles on to the thought “it’s too much, I can’t handle it” you learn skills to face all those overwhelming obsessions that come with sticky obsessions one-by-one?
And if instead of spending all your energy managing your obsessions, battling with those feelings, and dwelling on whether you can handle them or not, you put all that energy into handling those troublesome moments and do the stuff that truly matters to you.
​
Imagine if you learn to ride the waves of overwhelming fears that come with obsessions without sinking? I’m not saying that facing your obsessions will be a walk in the park, but I’m saying that once you learn ACT & ERP skills to handle any annoying feeling that comes along with intrusive thoughts, you will stop making fear-based decisions. You can learn to pivot and move toward what's really important to you in your life.
Introducing ACT & ERP
I’ll teach you Acceptance and Commitment & Exposure skills to get unstuck from OCD and get back into your life so you can connect with others, pursue a career path, entertain a hobby, do the things you love.
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a form of therapy that helps you understand and accept that life is not always fair and that you may
encounter issues and adversity at one time or another. Ironically, ACT is not new. In fact, it has been around for decades, however, it has only recently become a “go to” treatment for OCD.
ACT is heavily linked to mindfulness in its belief that you can achieve complete “oneness” and improve mental health by eliminating unhealthy, destructive, and negative thinking patterns and emotions from your life. Thus, ultimately, the goal of ACT is to identify any personality traits that may be influencing your behavior (actions), so you’ll feel less inclined to “avoid” or “hide” from stressful or overwhelming people and situations. This is especially prevalent when it comes to OCD.
​
For ACT to be successful, you must commit to making the necessary changes in your thought processes and behavior. Thus, this therapy approach encourages you to accept and embrace your thoughts and feelings, rather than avoiding or hiding from them. In fact, researchers have found that when ACT is paired with mindfulness exercises, OCD symptoms diminish.
Who is ACT For and How Does it Work?
Therapists are constantly looking for treatments that can help individuals better manage their mental health issues, so it makes sense that they would turn to ACT for assistance. According to studies, ACT can effectively help people cope with workplace and personal stress, emotional or psychological distress, social anxiety, phobias, performance anxiety, and general anxiety disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, psychosis, eating disorders, and OCD. ACT can also be used to treat a variety of health conditions, such as diabetes, Lupus, substance abuse and addiction, high blood pressure, and aches and pains.
​
ACT teaches you how to reframe your thoughts, experiences, and feelings, so you do not automatically view stressful or challenging situations as “issues” or “problems.” ACT teaches you how to adapt to changes that impact your normal functioning or daily life. It helps you accept what is currently happening, while managing your thoughts and feelings, so they don’t cause you to behave “out of character.”
ACT also helps you change how you view or perceive certain situations and emotions, so they are no longer associated with “pain” or “discomfort” and simply seen as a “normal part of life.” ACT involves a variety of strategies, such as helping you align with your personal values, and making a commitment towards changing how you think, so you can reduce or eliminate harmful, dangerous, or destructive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
ACT therapists believe that trying to control negative emotions or stressful or upsetting experiences is not only ineffective, but also damaging. In other words, bottling up these feelings only leads to more emotional pain and distress. Therapists also believe that there are reliable ways that you can change the way you think, feel, and behave, such as paying attention to your personal values or morals, being deliberately mindful of your reactions and behavior, and committing to change.
Thus, ACT works by helping you change your behavior, while simultaneously teaching you how to change your mood, feelings, and attitude by accepting and embracing both good and bad experiences.
What is the Goal of ACT?
The goal of ACT is to create a happy, healthy, fulfilling, and productive life, while accepting that stress and pain are natural parts of life. ACT teaches you how to be attentive and involved, while relying on your innermost values to guide your actions. ACT teaches you that the only way you can truly have an impactful life is through “mindful” or deliberate actions. ACT therapists believe that as we traverse through life, we are bound to encounter obstacles – i.e. unpleasant or upsetting thoughts, emotions, urges, sensations, images, and memories.
The ACT approach relies on six core principles to expand or alter one’s thought processes. These six core principles are: values, committed or deliberate actions, acceptance, cognitive defusion or disconnection, self-awareness or being present in the moment, and self in context or deep sense of self.
-
Values
Your personal values play an important role in ACT. During ACT, you learn how to identify what you value most (what matters most to you in life) and who you ultimately want to be. For instance, how you feel about lying, stealing, infidelity, etc.
2. Committed or Deliberate Action
For ACT to be effective, you must be committed to the therapy process and take deliberate actions to do things that will add value and meaning to your life. For instance, volunteering at a pet rescue or a homeless shelter, offering assistance to those who are less fortunate, praying, documenting your experiences in a journal, taking care of a disabled loved one or friend, etc.
3. Acceptance
Acceptance is a keystone of ACT. Acceptance entails accepting and embracing all of your experiences – the good ones and the bad ones. For instance, accepting that you’re not always a burst of sunshine – you also have dark days or days where you feel “down” or depressed. Both versions are “you” and that’s okay. You’re not supposed to be happy every single day of the year. It’s natural to have both good days and bad ones. That’s just a part of life.
4. Cognitive Defusion or Disconnection
4. Cognitive Defusion or Disconnection
What is cognitive defusion or disconnection? It involves separating yourself from, or looking at an experience, emotion, or event from the outside. In other words looking at the situation from a different angle or perspective. Thus, ACT therapists teach you how to become in-tune with your thoughts and emotions (looking at them as if you are an observer), without becoming fixated on them.
​
For instance, a terrifying thought pops in your head while at work. You become afraid that something is going to happen to your spouse. In this situation, ACT would encourage you to acknowledge this thought, but not allow it to consume you, because you realize that there is little-to-no merit to the thought. ACT therapists teach individuals not to try to squash these thoughts because that does more harm than good. Rather, embrace them, but realize that the fear will most likely never manifest.
5. Self-Awareness or Being Present in the Moment
ACT is most successful when you develop a strong self-awareness or are able to be present in the moment. When you focus on staying in the here-and-now, you become more aware of your experience because it is happening at that moment.
For instance, while hiking in the woods, you notice the varying heights of the trees, the green leaves, shadowy sky, and the dirt path beneath your feet. You are self-aware or present in the moment.
​
6. Self-In-Context or Deep Sense of Self
​
The last core principle important to ACT is self-in-context or deep sense of self. This principle involves getting in touch with your inner self or the part of yourself that is observant and fully aware. Your inner self is completely separate from your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and memories. For instance, this may entail where you are in your self-development and where you’d like to be or hope to be in the future.